Accused brandished sword at victim, friends — witness

KOTA KINABALU: An eyewitness yesterday told the murder trial of a student that he was at the distance of eight feet when he saw the accused brandishing a samurai sword at the victim and his two friends.

An ex-security officer of the Siam Thai Bar Omar Khan Hussin, who was giving his oral evidence before High Court Justice Datuk Nurchaya Hj Arshad, testified that he saw the accused Mohd Azmin Lidin, 29, brandishing at the three boys two to three times.

Under examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor Gan Peng Kun, the 11th prosecution witness also said that when the accused did the act, all the three boys were outside their Hilux car parked not far from the bar where the deceased Yaacob Nasran, 18, was in front of the car and his two buddies were at the driver and passenger’s seat doors, respectively.

Azmin, who was represented by counsel Dato’ Seri Rakhbir Singh, is accused of killing Yaacob in front of the entertainment outlet between 3.30am and 4.30am on December 15, 2016.

The accused was charged under Section 302 of the Penal Code which carries the mandatory death sentence, upon conviction.

To a question by Gan, the witness explained in detail that initially he saw the accused slashing at the deceased’s friend who was at the door of the right passenger’s seat, then repeated his act at another boy at the driver’s door and lastly at the deceased, who was standing in front of the car.

Recalling the incident, the witness said that he and Azmin were escorting their boss to a car park and both of them were carrying samurai swords.

“After escorting our boss to his car, I went back to the bar because I noticed that there was a fight between two men known as Adi and Amir with a group of teenagers.

“I told a boy and a girl from the group to go back and they then walked away while I entered my car,” explained the witness.

“As I was there, I said to a boy from the group of teenagers which I recalled had gone into the bar earlier to drink, to go home and I told them I am a security officer of the bar.

The witness then explained he had tried to jump to pass a short iron gate to the road to stop the fight between a man known as Adi and a boy accompanied by a girl.

“But I could not stop them and both the boy and girl managed to escape from Adi but when I turned back, I saw Adi rushing to both the boy and the girl who were on my right side.

“When I was about to stop Adi, I fell off and when I got up, I saw the accused slashing at the deceased and his two friends,” testified the witness.

The witness also said that when he saw Azmin in the act of slashing at the boys, he shouted to Azmin “Bro, cukup, sudah” (Bro, enough), but Azmin did not listen to what he said.

To another question by Gan, the witness said that as he could not control the situation, he entered his car and drove to the nearby car park area.

However, the witness, who had been working as security officer at the bar for more than one year, had arrived at the car park area and saw Azmin, who had worked at the bar for only four weeks, in front of his car.

“Azmin entered my car and when we were on our way to Karamunsing police station, Azmin asked me to stop my car near a restaurant as Azmin saw their former workmate known as John to give him the two samurai swords.

“After we arrived at the police station, I told the police that there was a fight at the bar and asked them to send police personnel to the bar,” he said.

To another question by Gan, the witness further testified that at a state confusion at that time, Azmin was still with him and he had called a policeman by the name of Mustapha, who later asked the witness to come back to the bar.

“I did not manage to lodge a police report after Mustapha asked me to come back to the bar and when I and Azmin went out of the police station, Azmin had gone home with the DJ of the bar known as Shaman.

“When I arrived at the bar, I saw many police personnel and members of the public, and as the situation was in chaos, I did not get to see Mustapha,” added the witness.

Counsel Mary Gomez held a watching brief for the deceased’s family.

The trial which commenced at 2.15pm ended at 4.20pm and will resume on November 6 - 9.